"In any offending situation, the background of the offender or the perpetrator will often give a good reason why the offending occurred. This is applied in drug abuse, sexual abuse and bullying cases."

Her research argued those principles should also apply to the backgrounds of trafficking offenders, who often have limited opportunities to leave once the debt to their captors was paid.

"What were they free from?" Ms Baxter said.

"Yes, they didn't have a debt over their heads. That lifestyle and those conditions and that work was all that they knew.

"They still had limited English skills and limited trade skills."

According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, "virtually every" country in the world was impacted by human trafficking with thousands of men, women and children the victims.

Flinders University Associate Professor in Criminology Marinella Marmo said this analysis of case studies in Australia would have significant impact.

"The United Nations has shown an interest in profiling not just trafficked victims but offenders too," Dr Marmo said.

"Statistics show almost three in 10 convicted human traffickers are female.

"Ms Baxter's study indicates that [a] more inclusive, social preventative approach may be required to minimise the cycle of victim-offender in the area of human trafficking."